John Atkin

Commissioned for the Beijing Olympic Cultural Olympiad, Strange Meeting was selected through an international competition that attracted more than 2,600 submissions worldwide. The work was one of 26 monumental sculptures selected for permanent installation in Beijing and was sited close to the National Stadium — the “Bird’s Nest” — in Beijing Olympic Park.

Carved from 27 tonnes of marble, Strange Meeting takes its title from Wilfred Owen’s poem of the same name. The sculpture explores ideas of encounter, reconciliation and shared humanity through two interlocking forms. Its monumental mass is counterbalanced by sweeping internal contours and carved passages that bring movement, light and spatial tension into the stone.

Created in 2008, the sculpture formed part of the cultural programme surrounding the Beijing Olympic Games and remains permanently installed in Beijing Olympic Park. Strange Meeting marked an important development in John Atkin’s longstanding engagement with China and established a relationship with Chinese public art and sculpture that has continued through subsequent commissions, exhibitions and academic collaborations.